Presque Isle group discusses Peninsula Drive, new play space

Thursday

Enhancements to the road leading to the state park and an outdoor area for children at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center were talked about at Thursday's meeting.

Improvements to Peninsula Drive and a new nature play space at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center were discussed Thursday by the Presque Isle Advisory Committee.

The advisory committee, at its meeting Thursday, received an update on a PennDOT Multimodal Plan that, among other things, considers enhancements to Peninsula Drive from West Eighth Street to the park boundary just past Sara's Restaurant. The group also gave its approval to the play space to be constructed this year outside the Ridge Center.

"Kids can get outside and interact with natural materials," park Operations Manager Matt Greene said. He said the play space also could be used for education.

Greene said the park has the money and manpower to build the space similar to one completed in 2017 at Beach 11. The new play space's features would include sandy areas, logs to climb on and a section that looks like a shipwreck, he said.

Greene also gave the update on the multimodal plan that he said focuses on Peninsula Drive and the Waterworks area.

For Peninsula Drive, he said, a stakeholder group preferred a four-lane option similar to what exists now but with a separated and elevated 12-foot-wide pedestrian bike bath on the same side of the road as the Ridge Center. Greene said the footers of Waldameer Park's Ravine Flyer II roller coaster, which goes over the road, are set back far enough to allow for the four lanes and path.

The stakeholder group didn't favor an option with only one lane in each direction and a third lane in the center for turns.

Greene said that group also didn't favor building a covered parking structure on the peninsula, specifically in the Waterworks area. But other improvements, such as raised pedestrian bridges over roads, hadn't been ruled out near Waterworks or Sara's.

He asked committee members to submit comments on the plan within the next month before he gets back in contact with PennDOT.

In other business, the committee:

•nominated Karen Tobin, director of environmental health services at the Erie County Department of Health, to fill a vacancy on the panel. The nomination still needs approval from the secretary of the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources;

•heard that about 3,100 of 4,000 tickets have been sold for the Presque Isle Partnership's June 22 Best Summer Night concert at Beach 11 with the Steve Miller Band and Peter Frampton. Proceeds will go toward installing lifeguard stations on park beaches and purchasing more handicapped-accessible walkways that can be placed on sand, said partnership Executive Director Jon DeMarco; and

•were told that U.S. senators and representatives from the Erie area continue to push for federal funding for sand nourishment on Presque Isle beaches. Committee members questioned, in light of recent struggles to obtain federal money, whether it was time to review the 50-year agreement according to which the federal government is to provide half of the sand work funding. The state contributes the other half and is already expected to provide between $1 million and $1.5 million this year. Park officials were hoping for word sometime this month on whether any federal money will be available.

Dana Massing can be reached at 870-1729 or by email. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ETNmassing.

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